“Do you think this is a good idea?” Mercius said staring at the Forest in front of him

“It’s better than being out in the open the forest should be a good cover from prying eyes,” Andrew said with certainty, he does not want to be out in the open when a creature could pop out from any direction, especially those demon eyes.

Mercius and Andrew did not travel far from where they started, the forest they had found was just west of the beach it wasn’t even that far, they were lucky that they hadn’t encountered anything hostile from the short travel just some insects and critters nothing more than that.

They are standing now on top of a small hill staring at the neverending forest in front of them, they could also see a huge hill, not a mountain just a big vertical hill with a small hole barely visible from atop the hill, at the far end just to the left of the hill there is a huge tree off growing in the distance and to the right there is a flowing river that they could use as a source of water at some point if they manage to make some sort of filtration system.

“Should we go to the living tree or the hill” ask Mercius, they could go to a cave at the hill and make a base there or they could go to the living tree and make one there and if it is the same as in the game there should be some good loot at the tree, there should be no mobs in there maybe with the exception for some gnome besides that it’s also kind cool to live there if he thinks about it, however, the cave at the hill could also provide with the necessary materials for crafting and it’s also closer to them and they would less to travel, both are a good option in his opinion.

“I think we should go to the cave first since our first priority is finding a place for shelter and rest and if the cave does go deep into the ender ground, we could explore a bit but not too deep, after a bit of exploring we could go to the living tree and look at it,” Andrew said he really want to go the living tree and make a nice home there but he must have is priority strait survival comes first giant tree second” and if it’s a nice place we could make our home there, there also might be some useful goodies,” Andrew said

“Sound like a plan” Mercius agree with Andrew giant tree could come after.

“Alight then lest go” Andrew was about to go when Mercius quickly stop him

” What is it? “Andrew said with confusion

“Here take some of these and also this, I had some spare in my inventory and they would be useful in our journey in case of emergency” Mercius said handing Andrew some ropes, torches, booms, and potions.

He got a bunch of different potions from his starter bag, there are some differences from what he could remember there should be some recall potion but there is none he got a teleportation potion instead, and there are also no mining and spelunker potions and they too got replace with healing and mana potion.

“Thanks,” Andrew said, “oh right if remember something you can use the potion in our inventory it would be sent directly into your mouth, instead of applied to your body so be careful you need to swallow it right away if you want to have some effect” and off they begin their journey to the cave that they saw.

They stood in front of the forest Mercius with a short sword in hand stood in front while a bit at the back Andrew with a bow and arrow ready for anything that could pop at any moment, they had nothing on them only the clothing they had in since they arrived at this world, they did not need torches since their path is illuminated with the moonlight and the torches would just bring unwanted attention.

They begin there slowing into the woods trying to not make any sound, during the trip they did not encounter anything dangerous they saw some owls, foxes, and other night nocturnal animals until.

Crunch* Crunch*

Mercius and Andrew stop on their path they heard a sound in normal cases stupid hormonal teens in horror movies would go investigate the sound from where it was coming from and split up like the bunch of idiots they are, but in Andrew and Mercius case was something else the source of the noise is coming right in from of them just a few meters.

What they could see is a ‘human’ eating a dead animal, the ‘human’ body had gray skin with a tint of purple and purple veins that could be clearly seen on his face and hands, old broken tatter clothing still holding on covering the body, they could also see purple saliva dripping out of the mouth and the body had bits of Tentacle that are growing out of its hand warping the corps with the elongated fingers.

Andrew and Mercius are not phased out by this current not scared or disgusted by what they are seeing in front of them, for Andrew case he had been prepared for such a situation that might happen in his mind when he arrived at this world, and also not many know this in his back in his world, but he is a bit of a horror game fan so gore doesn’t scare him a bit and he thinking if he should take out this monster or just ignore it, Mercius, on the other hand, is a bit scaredy cat for the horror genre, not the gory stuff he just doesn’t like the clowns that might pop out at any moment and it was not his first time seeing a bead body, not from a human but from an animal.

In Mercius Childhood he had seen a rat in front of him once he was not disgusted by it in fact, he was more curious about what part of the rat was made of, although he had a bit of germaphobia however that did not stop his curiosity and he started to play and poke it with a stick till guts and fluid came out and at this moment he was more contemplating if this is a zombie or a person that might be corrupted from the corruption or if all zombie came from the corruption that could explain the origin he thought.

Then he felt a tap on his back and quickly turned around to only see Andrew staring at him and nugget with his chin as if to say let’s move around it, Mercius let out a quiet small sigh.

Andrew decided it was not the best time for combat practice, this thing can be looked at another time but not now, he taps Mercius to move aside he turned around with a panicked look before relaxing he had totally forgotten about him.

Andrew and Mercius moved slowly around the corrupted and continued their path, on their journey they did encounter two more of them lucky they did manage to avoid them by throwing a couple of rocks to distract them they seem to be not very intelligent, so they did manage to avoid them doing simple tricks like this.

After a bit more walking, they finally managed to arrive in front of the cave, the moon is now standing high in the sky, so a bit of time has passed, and it appeared to be around midnight for them.

Andrew threw a rock inside to see if anything happened although the entrance is big its better to be safe than sorry.

After waiting for a bit and seeing nothing happen, they decided to go in Andrew took out a torch from his inventory, the torch look like a stick with a gel at the tip, he channeled his mana through the stick to the gel and then it lit up.

Mercius seeing this decided to copy Andrew as well he took a torch from his inventory and did the same, he channeled his mana through the touch but unlike Andrew, his fire combusted and gave out a bigger flame than Andrews in a few seconds the fire dwindle before it gave out, he was perplexed by the situation.

“You should channel a bit of your many at the outer layer of the tip,” Andrew said

“Are slime like oil then?” Mercius said, with a bit of excitement if that was true then the king slime fight would be way easier.

“No slime gel is similar but different when the slime is alive, he coated their body with mana and with moister in their body to keep themselves cool and wet so an alive slime is very inflammable only once they die can the gel be used” Andrew said, Mercius is a bit disappointed that his future boss fight will not be that easy.

Going deeper into the cave they did manage to find a couple of vases and a chest most of them were empty and appeared to be abandoned since a lot of dusks are collected, they found a couple of chains, broken hooks old axes, and pickaxes, silks and some mining tools like lanterns, ropes and some old coins after collecting the useful stuff they went deeper until they came to a ledge where there is a next bottom floor that appeared to go deeper.

They decided its not worth going deeper into the cave and that they should stick around the first layer closer to the entrance.

Andrew took some sticks and bits of torches that he had collected on their journey and made a small campfire.

Mercius and Andrew sat next to the fire cooking owls that Andrew had caught for a meal, quietly until one of them decided to say something.

“You know I don’t feel very tired or hungry” Mercius said he did notice although he hadn’t eaten anything yet he wasn’t very hungry.

“That’s because of the mana,” Andrew said nonchalantly

“huh that’s neet,” Mercius said with a bit of surprise

“It is, however, we should still eat regularly the mana essentially works to keep your body together and some parts in our body we don’t even need anymore, and that part when they are not working went to sleep to spare energy and material for cells, however, they are reactive if we are lacking mana since the longer we go without eating the more mana needs to keeps things together and then our mana becomes slower to regenerate until we can’t anymore,” Andrew said

“so our mana is tied to our body,” Mercius ask

“no, not entirely we also have life force is what makes our body keep working and the more life force you have to closer you are to eternal life,” Andrew said” and if you have 500 points of life force or more you are very close to enteral youth, there are other methods like brimstone magic but from what I know it will corrupt you and basic life force is the safest way even if there are infinite other methods out there, also the more life force you have the higher you vitality is"

“I see,” Mercius said not sure what to do with this information

“I think there should be a change in plans,” Andrew said

“How so” Mercius ask thinking if they could not visit the living tree the next day.

“you of course” Andrew said

“uh? Why me” he asks with confusion as to why the plans needed to be changed.

“Crafting, exploration, combat” Andrew said,” First I need to teach you crafting that need some time, then we need to explore the surface area before we go spelunking like we need to know where each biome is like the desert, corrupting, etc. and  we need to get you and me in shape so when the first boss magically appears in the worst possible moment that we are ready to at least fight it, spelunking”

What Andrew just said made sense to him he can’t retort he needs to learn how to craft and knowing where each biome is would be helpful for each biome material and other necessities that they may need and of course he needs to learn on how to fight or how else will he kill the moon Cthulhu.

“All right, I take the first shift and be on the lookout at the entrance” Mercius said after taking his food and leaving for the entrance.

Andrew did not mind since he knew Mercius is going through a lot of stuff in his head some alone time would help him we he could be ready for the next day.

Mercius sits at a rock at the entrance looking at the stars that he has never seen in all of his life only in online pictures but here they are beautiful.

Sigh*

That was a bit of a rough day for him, he was now in a new world with gods and monsters. He did not sure how to feel about it some part of him felt good no longer needing to worry about the daily life he had back home the dreed of life just waiting to die and now he is here, he is not sad he was separated from his family the only thing he could feel now is a void empty feeling and yet a liberating one he was sure that he could fill this feeling up with making friends like Andrew or going on a life threatening adventure.

He shook his head leaving his thought it’s better to think about what is happening now than be stuck in the past like he usually always does.

Mercius stares at the stars they seem like glowing dusk in the sky to him feeling some sort of connection he relaxed enjoying the view and not worrying about the day that is to come.